-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- One phone call brought the 41-year-old memory back to George Hopkins instantly , flooding him with the terror of having a .38 - caliber pistol jabbed into his face .

Former flight engineer George Hopkins says he remembers vividly being hijacked to Cuba in 1968 .

`` Hey , they got the guy that hijacked us , '' said the voice on the phone .

Hopkins , a former flight engineer , got the call Monday from a friend and former Pan Am pilot , a day after the surrender of Luis Armando Pena Soltren .

Pena Soltren is one of the men accused of hijacking Pan Am Flight 281 on November 24 , 1968 , and taking it to Cuba .

The suspect had remained hidden in Cuba for decades , and Hopkins ' memories of the ordeal had receded . But it 's all coming back now . Watch Hopkins describe the hijacking ''

`` I can still remember very vividly , '' said Hopkins , 71 . `` The guy comes to the cockpit and he 's got a knife . And he sticks a .38 right in my nose , right between my eyes , and I could tell it was loaded because I see the bullets around the cylinder . He has the stewardess and held her with knifepoint at the base of her skull and he said , ` Cuba , Cuba , Cuba . ' ''

Hopkins said he felt a burning sensation where the gun was pointed on his face .

`` There was no doubt in my mind he would pull the trigger if I 'd have done something very foolish , '' he said .

Hopkins was in the flight engineer 's seat and noticed that the pilot and copilot had not seen the hijacker . He alerted them and said they needed to appease the armed man . Through the open door of the cockpit , he could see two other hijackers holding passengers at bay .

With the plane now heading to Cuba , the hijacker lowered his gun . But the armed man was extremely nervous and shaking , Hopkins said .

A second hijacker , the apparent ringleader , entered the cockpit and told the crew everything would be fine .

`` He said do n't worry about it , we 've done this before , '' Hopkins said . Then the man asked whether he could bring his wife up to first class . The woman was carrying a baby , Hopkins remembers .

At one point , a fighter jet appeared in the distance and followed their plane to Cuba . The hijackers left the plane after it landed , but Cuban authorities held Hopkins and the rest of the crew on board for about six hours before they were allowed to fly back to the United States .

On Sunday , 66-year-old hijacking suspect Pena Soltren surrendered to federal authorities at New York 's John F. Kennedy Airport , the same airport from which Hopkins ' flight was commandeered .

According to a December 1968 indictment , Soltren and three others -- Jose Rafael Rios Cruz , Miguel Castro and Alejandro Figueroa -- conspired to hijack the flight .

Cruz and Castro were sentenced in the 1970s after pleading guilty in U.S. District Court in New York . They received 15-year and 12-year sentences , respectively . Figueroa was acquitted in 1969 .

Hopkins wonders now whether he would even recognize Pena Soltren .

`` I never thought I 'd repeat this story again , '' Hopkins said . `` I repeated it a lot for the first several years , because it was very traumatic to us . This is the first time I 've even said anything about it for five to 10 years . It 's been kind of nice . Your mind is able to flush things once in awhile , until something happens and then you recall it . ''

@highlight

George Hopkins was flight engineer on Pan Am flight hijacked to Cuba in 1968

@highlight

Arrest of last suspect brings back memories of gun in his face , hijacker in cockpit

@highlight

`` There was no doubt in my mind he would pull the trigger , '' Hopkins remembers

@highlight

One hijacker asked to have his wife and baby moved to first class , Hopkins recalls